Paolo Hewitt

May 2008

Archive Interview : From PEOM

This interview  was featured in the autumn issue of the fanzine Positive Energy of Madness 1994. It was done just the after the release of Heaven’s Promise, the screening of Highlights and Hang-ups (Paul Weller Documentary) and prior to the release of The Young Mod’s Forgotten Story (Small Faces Biography).  So one drunken afternoon  at Heavenly Records’ office, Paolo Hewitt and I rapped.

Paolo Hewitt’s Heaven’s Promise

Remember that scene in Taxi Driver when the older driver preaches his philosophy?   A man does a job. He becomes that job.

Imagine your work becoming your life. A DJ would want the days and the streets to melt into one another like the two tracks he’s just mixed. He’d want the beat to be smooth, the fusion seamless and unnoticeable. Disc-to-Disc: street-to-street. He’s that kind of guy. Nothing troubles him. But then all of a sudden something makes him stop short. The woman he’s been seeing is pregnant, she’s in trouble and he’s the father. It’s time to make some choices. It’s time to fulfill Heaven’s Promise.
 
Heaven’s Promise is the first novel by Paolo Hewitt, ex NME and Solid Bond and the second book to be published by Heavenly. One sunny afternoon, mid August, I went up to the Heavenly HQ in Wardour Street to rap with Paolo about writing, music, film and anything else we could squeeze into a C90, and half a bottle of rum. Now I know I’m setting this up so it feels like it’s going to flow into a straight question/answer session, but there’s an acoustic jam going on in the background, the Etienne boys going out for more beer and rum and the incessant phone, the sun never seeming to set and all that is the Heavenly office these days; it seems more appropriate to let the author speak and not quote from the open discussion from the room. And so here’s Paolo Hewitt on…

LONDON

When you come from the suburbs to London, as I did from Woking, the size of the city and what’s available is truly invigorating. One of the most striking things for me when I set up shop here is the huge mix of cultures that live side by side, especially where I reside and it’s cool. That’s really inspiring because it directly runs against the line given out by right wingers that such a mix is impossible. Round my way, everybody’s just getting on with their thing and no one hassles anyone with any stupidness. That said, there’s a load of trouble going down round the Somers Town area (Camden) with that 15-year-old kid being murdered by some youths.

It’s a problem that we are going to have to deal with swiftly. In times of harsh economies, it’s so easy to whip up ideas about nationalism based round jobs and money. Tell people that the Pakistan or the Indian community, despite the fact that a large proportion of those communities are British themselves, have taken their jobs, housing, culture, etc. it’s that kind of thinking which serves to mask the dying world economy, that is affecting everyone, which we will have to fight tooth and nail in coming years.

THE GOVERNMENT

People in power have always gotten away with murder. But at least ten years ago when they got caught with their hands in the till they would go quietly. Now even that has gone. It’s just brazen robbery. The rich sucking the poor and then spitting into their faces with laws about poll taxes and restriction of movement. But it can’t last long. A change always comes

ON THE DJ (THE NARRATOR OF HEAVEN’S PROMISE)

I wanted a character that wasn’t tied down to a nine to five job and could go off and engage in all things I wanted to talk about from music and clothes to race riots and Ecstasy, and everything would be credible. I also thought a DJ would be a good vehicle for one of the book’s themes which is irresponsibility of men. I’ve known a lot of DJ’s and they’re all trying to do the others by discovering new tunes. They are wrapped up in their worlds, as a lot of men are in whatever they’re doing, so when real life intrudes on that world there is always a fight. That was the reason for the character’s job.

ON WRITING

When I was writing the book it often felt like I was shooting in the dark. I used to read back what I had written that day and think, well I like it but what will the rest of the world think? Luckily, the rest of the world has been very kind about the book. People whose opinions I really respect have given it a real thumbs up so all the hardships and heartaches were more than worth it in the end. I really agree with what both John Lennon and the writer Irving Welsh have said about “art”. Lennon said, “ Genius is 95% sweat and 5% inspiration”.

Irving Welsh said that writing is really about application most of the time. The ideas about writers being “inspired” or being born “artists”(have you checked out how many people think they are “artist” at the moment) is just a way to stop people joining the cosy writers club. It’s really true. Writing is hard but once you get into it , discipline yourself to sit down and put words to paper, then believe it, it’s a great feeling. It’s just getting to the type writer that’s the hard bit.

CULTURES
 
I want to talk more about this in the next book so I’ll keep it brief. But in “Heaven’s Promise” I realised at the end of it that a lot of the characters, the young Italian and the Indian woman who organises against the BNP, for example were breaking away from the dominant cultures to try and make something else. I think culture is really important for humans because it gives us a sense of identity and belonging in a vast world that is frightening for most of its inhabitants. But, for me, culture has to be flexible. It has to adapt. It can’t stand still otherwise it will perish.
 
ON OTHER WRITERS

Best British writer I’ve come across recently is Irving Welsh. He’s put out two books, Trainspotting and The Acid House. Both came out before mine so when I heard about them I got really worried that he was covering the same ground. I bought them up in Scotland and within a week I had devoured both of them. They’re great books, full of compassion, anger, telling details and great story telling. You get lost in them. Other writers would include Sam Selvon, Hubert Selby jnr. Jess Mowry and Richard Allen (only joking)

ON HIS SMALL FACES BIOG (RELEASED IN OCTOBER 1994)

If Steve Marriott was 16 today he would be checking out contemporary r’n’ b and adapting the form to The Small faces. Marriott was a pop artist of the highest kind and so was his sidekick Ronnie Lane. They always wanted the new. Dylan said, “don’t look back” and that was the best Mod quote, the one The Small Faces lived by. All I hope is that when people read this biog they either go to their collections and pull out some Marriott/Lane music or they go out and discover them for the first time. That will be enough for me.
 
ON HIGHLIGHTS AND HANG-UPS HIS WELLER DOCUMENTARY
 
Basically, apart from making the first ever documentary about this country’s most senior musicians (and I mean that in terms of art not age) who has been working at his craft for 17 years now and who was recently approached by The South Bank show for a special (what does that tell about the class system in this country and how it operates) we (meaning myself and director Pedro Roymanhi) also wanted to make a film about a man who’s got an idea about what he wants to do and how he goes about doing that, what happens to him along the way and what lessons are learnt. See, as with “Heaven’s Promise” it’s vital to cover the things that are normally ignored by the mainstream but you have to have a human story so that people get interested.

This what we tired to do with this film as well as celebrate and examine some great music. All I’ll say about it now is that I have see it seen it a hundred times and it stills grips me and that if I had not been involved in any way with the film I would still dig it. And that’s the truth Ruth. By the way it’s released on video in November. Now pass the rum!

Matteo Sedazzari/ ZANI

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